James Cameron's Avatar tells a story of global sustainability in which the good guys win. The heroes are resisters--a handful of scientists and soldiers who take up arms, commit sabotage, and recruit others to defeat a ruthless industrial-military complex bent on mining a fortune and trampeling the natives. Not a compromiser in sight. In other words, no politicians.
It's a relief to spend a few hours in a movie theater contemplating a world's survival without being exposed to the tradeoffs, hedging, posturing, brinksmanship, spin, foot dragging, and other shenanigans of political leaders. Avatar's aggression trumps Copenhagen's circuitousness.
Cameron could ignore the politicians because he located his sustainability drama in a colonial setting--the politicans were back home somewhere while the exploiters they authorized searched for loot, much as 500 years ago European kings launched explorers to the "new world." We, of course, don't have this luxury. Global warming means everywhere on Earth is "home." And even though many of us are betting on technological solutions, the politicians have key roles to play. In other words, we can't really dump our problems elsewhere and we, as a society, have to decide how to address the problems. Where Avatar poses a clash of civilizations--western, alien, techno culture vs. aboriginal, indigenous, nature culture--our global crisis requires a change of civilization; we must defeat ourselves.
Even with the politics left off-stage, Avatar's happy ending requires several miracles. The western civilization soldier must be transformed by love into an ally of the native blue peoples and then, Lawrence of Arabia style, into their warrior-leader. The world's natural systems must generate an army of powerful beasts to overwhelm the military technology of the intruders. Along the way, there is also inter-species coupling and inter-species life-transfusion. If that sort of magic is the path to the changes we need to save the world, wouldn't it be smarter to bet on our politicians figuring out what to do.
Then again, maybe not. Avatar's conclusion rests on one other factor: greedy, stubborn people remain greedy and stubborn in the face of new information and impending doom. In other words, stupidity rules. But that's only in the movies, right? |
